Systems are the solution, right? We’ve all heard this before, and even E-Myth has promulgated this partial truth. But somewhere in all of us is a sense that something deeper must be present to make systemization come alive and create a business – not a bureaucracy. If you believe systems are going to save you, think again.

Walk into any post office, bank, or fast food establishment. These places have systems or processes that are followed so that customers are served consistently. But do you feel inspired as a customer in these businesses? Or do you accept that these kinds of businesses simply don’t care enough to make a place that employees love to be in. If your employees aren’t inspired and excited to follow the systems created to serve your customers, do you really believe the customers experience anything but the deadly thud of bureaucratic energy filling the air?

Systems are a means, not an end. They are a way to express your vision, your mission and passion, your true idea and purpose of your business. Unless you, as a business owner, create a place where the systems rest upon this larger ideal, then you’ll soon discover what is suggested here. When systems simply control rather than liberate, your culture begins that slow slide towards inefficiency, ineffectiveness, employee turn-over, and all the cultural maladies that are the symptoms of an uninspired business.